Over 500 people attended the Green party conference in London, 6 of
those from Gloucestershire, to hear the landslide result that Caroline
Lucas had won the Green Party's first ever leadership election
John Marjoram, Stroud Mayor and Green District councillor, who went to the whole 4-day conference, said: "Caroline Lucas MEP, who is the party's candidate for the target constituency of Brighton Pavillion, shone through with a wonderful combination of clarity, commitment and professionalism. She is an inspirational leader who can more than stand-up to the other three party leaders. She called for a Green New Deal to tackle the impact of rising prices and increased unemployment and again called to invest a Windfall tax on massive energy company profits into making the homes of ordinary people warmer and fuel bills more affordable (i)."
Martin Whiteside, the Green party parliamentary spokesperson and District councillor said: "I have come back from the conference inspired and impressed. Today with a combination of a credit-fuelled financial meltdown, accelerating climate change, and soaring energy prices we need a Green New Deal in response. Just three companies – BP, Centrica, and Shell – together made £1000 profit every second over the first 6 months of this year. As Caroline Lucas said in her first speech as leader these corporations are robbing from the poor to give to the rich - and they know it. In the 1930s depression it was President Roosevelt's New Deal that got people back to work with a massive investment in infrastructure. This century we need to make the nation's buildings truly energy efficient, with local authority bonds being issued to raise the necessary funds for a major investment in insulation, efficiency and renewables, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process. We need Green leadership now more than ever. None of the other parties has the vision or the courage to tackle the real challenges we face today."
Martin Whiteside added: "In addition to the Green New Deal there were many and varied other policy motions like a call for a full enquiry into the problems with policing the Climate Camp at Kingsnorth, the creation of marine reserves around the coast of Britain to cover 30% of UK waters by 2015, a call for a new contract between service personnel and the state promising them decent living standards and pledging them to follow international law, a universal provision of a free lunch at state schools, the minimum wage to be increased to be in line with the Council of Europe Decency Threshold (ie £8.17 per hour) and a "right to rent" policy so that homeowners under threat of repossession could transfer ownership of their home, and then remain in the home as council tenants (ii)."
Notes:
(i) Dr Lucas' "Green New Deal" report, co-authored with a panel including SolarCentury boss Jeremy Leggett, Guardian Economic Editor Larry Elliot, and former Friends of the Earth chief Tony Juniper, calls for public investment in green-collar jobs in areas including renewable energy.
(ii) Conference considered 21 policy motions with apparently much lively debate - among those passed were:
* Support for the right of trade unions to establish workplace environmental representatives (a cause being supported by the TUC and many unions).
* A call for an immediate end to the British opt-out of the European Working Time Directive, and for the national minimum wage to be increased to be in line with the Council of Europe Decency Threshold (60% of net national earnings). This would currently mean a minimum of £8.17 per hour.
* A "right to rent" policy so that homeowners unable to meet mortgage payments and under threat of repossession could transfer ownership of the home, at less than market value, to the council, and then remain in the home as council tenants.
* Policy was clarified to make it clear that the party is in favour of the universal provision of a free lunch in all state schools in England and Wales on every school day.
* A call for a plan to licence and purchase the Afghan opium crop, to be processed into morphine and heroin for free or low-cost distribution in developing countries for the use of pain relief in palliative care and for other medically approved purposes.
* A call for building regulations to be tightened, and additional training of architects and builders arranged, so that new buildings, extensions or conversions meet tougher standards than those now applicable, and so that all new dwellings are zero-carbon by 2012.
* A call for a new contract between service personnel and the state promising decent living standards to those injured, and to the dependants of those killed, while asking them to sign a pledge to follow international law, and to disobey any order requiring them to fire on unarmed civilians.
* A new culture policy was also adopted.
Plus there were Emergency Motions:
* A call for Gurkhas and their families to be given fast track eligibility for either the right to remain or citizenship in the UK, given their exceptional service..
* A call for Westminster MPs, who have control over the issue, to grant the same access to abortion in Northern Ireland (where it is now almost totally banned) as is available to women in England, Scotland and Wales.
* A call for a full enquiry into the problems with policing the Climate Camp at Kingsnorth.
* A call for extensive highly protected marine reserves around the coast of Britain to cover 30% of UK waters to 200 nautical miles by 2015.
* Condemning plans by the Home Office to launch a central database of all so-called "communications data" as a violation of civil liberties.
Printed by, promoted by and on behalf of the Gloucestershire Green Party
Lark Rise, 2 The Laurels, Bread Street, Ruscombe, Stroud, Glos. GL6 6EL
Telephone 01453 755451
Home 
News 
9th September 2008
